Fire extinguisher



May 29, 1928.

J. BOYD FIRE EXTINGUISHER' Filedv Ja.A 1,9, 1927 Patented May .29,19,28.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN R. BOYD, OF-GALENA, O HIO, ASSIGN-OB OF ONE-FOURTH TO GUSTAV MEYER,01? WESTERVILLE, OHIO; ONE-FOURTH TO MICHAEL B. DBISCOLL, 0F WASHINGTON,DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA; AND ONE-HALF TO CURA B. BOYD. i

FIRE EXTINGUISHER.

Applicatipn led January 19, 1927. Serial No. 162,115.

This invention has to do with fire extinguishers, .and particularly'with fire extinguishers in which the lire damping me- -dium is carbontetra chloride.

It is well known that chemically pure carbon tetra chloride has noaflinlty for metals and will not injure wood or fabrics. In other words,it may be said to'bea neutral compound'. Itis, therefore, the idealagent for use in fire extinguishers.

It is non-explosive and is a poor conductor of electricity. Because ofthese qualities it is especially valuable and safe in the case of firesinvolving explosive chemicals and those where live electric conductorsare exposed. l

The reason it has not come into more common use is the fact'that it isnot generally known, that, while it has la decided tendency to undergo adeteriorating change when for any considerable time subjected to airunder pressure, it has. no such tendency with air at atmosphericpressure. As a result of this lack of' information, fire extinguishers.designed to discharge carbon tetra chloride under pressure haveuniformly failed to make proper provision for relief of the air pressureas soon as the flow of the carbon tetra chloride was stopped. Theprimary object of this invention is to do this. It consists of providingmeans whereby, when air under pressure is cut off from the carbon tetrachloride chamber, the compression is relieved and atmospheric pressureis quickly restored to said chamber. It is among the objects of theinvention that such relief of pressure shall be effected automatically,and positively. It is also among the objects ot' this invention toprovide a selffcontained structure free from awkward joints, and ofsulciently strong material to withstand heavy pressure, and of suchthickness as to reduce to a minimum any tendency. for in. filtration ofair through the .walls of the containingchambers. Still further it is ofthe objects of this invention to close the passage from the compressedair chamber -to the carbon 'tetra chloride chamber with a non-leakableair valve, suchas a Kero test valve, so that pressure may be retainedindefinitely. l Y

The structure whereby the above objects are. attained will be fully setforth and de scrlbed later and in connection with lthe accompanyingdrawings, in which Fig. 1 is .a top plan view of my' extinguisher whileFigure 2 is a longitudinal section 'of my extinguisher taken online 2-2of Fig. 1', showing parts of the device in elevation. j Y

Referring 4more specifically to the structure shown in the drawing itwill be seen that my extinguisher is made as a compact unitary structurehaving a head 5 formed of -is bi'azed thereto. The o posite end of tank8 is' closed with a forge steel cup or dome 10 swaged and brazedthereinand at'the same end of my device Atank 9`is closed by a cup ordome 11 alsol swaged andbrazed Y in place. l y

On head 5 are located the va-rious operatinparts of, my invention. heseparts comprise a needle point valve 12 in communication with tank 9, aKero test air control valve 13, and an air pipe 14 connecting these twovalves. Mounted on the air pipe 14 is an air filler valve 15 forcharging tank 8. Operatively conaected withv air control valve 13 bymeans of accurately cut gears 16 and 17 is a Kero Itest relief valve 18mounted on the chloride tank 9. Valve 13 is provided with a handle 19.`

Gears 16 and 17 are so adjusted that valve.

-13 is opened and"valve 18 is closed automatically, and vice versa. Theport in relief valve 18 is relatively small. In actual practiceit isabout 31E inch in diameter.

' Carbon tetra chloride tank 9 is provided 4with a suitably cappedfiller opening 20,

sure (gauges 29 and 30 are mounted on tanks 8 an 9 respectivel v It hasbeen found7 byeexperiment that better results are obtained bysurrounding* the air tank with the carbon tetra chloride'tank. As isvery desirable in a device of this character .the mode of o eration isvery simple. The device being c arged with both carbon tetra chlorideand compressed air the operator opens needle valve 12, then turns handle19 thereby openinv valve 13 and simultaneously closing relief valve 18.Pressure now being on the carbon tetra chloride, a stream is pla ed onthe iire through either or both pieces of hose 27 and 28the stream beingcontrolled by valves 23 and 24 respectively.

As soon as the fire is under control, han! dle 19 is turned in a reversedirection, thereby closing valve y13. This shuts off the pressure fromthe carbon tetra chloride tank. At the same time relief valve 18'isopened, thereby permitting the pressure on the carbon tetra chloride toescape, thus restoring atmospheric pressure to the carbon tetra chloridetank. It will be seen, therefore, that the one great objection to theuse of carbon tetra chloride as a fire extinguishing medium has beenremoved, so that now this valuable, though relatively inexpensive agentis available to all. `'Ihe function o needle valve 12 is to control thepressure on the carbon tetrachloride independently of valve 13.

tinguishing of fires, even though early dis-v covered, because plug 31will melt first, then plug 32, whereupon explosion of either the airtank or'carbon .tetra chloride, or both, will be avoided.

Having accurately described my invention,

what I claim as newv and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A fireextinguisher for using carbon tetra-chloride comprising, invcombination,a solution tank, a valve-controlled discharge therefor, an aircompression tank,` means providing a assage between said tanks, pluralmeans or controlling air in said passage, and means operativelyconnected with` one of said passage air controlling means connectingsaid tanks, a reliefvalve mount-l ed on the solution tank, and meansautomat- .ically operated by said control valve for opening said relieflvalve when said control valve is closed and vice versa.

3.,A lire extinguisher for using carbon tetra-chloride comprising, incombination, a solution tank, a discharge hose therefor, a compressedair tank, a head for said tanks frolried with integral brazingltlangessecured to their respective tanks, means mounted on said head providingavpassage between` said tanks, means for controlling air in saidpassage, and means mounted on the solution tank operatively connectedvwith the means for controlling air in the air passage whereby openingthe means for controlling air in the air passage will automaticallyclose the means mounted on the solution tank and vice versa.

4. A fire extinguisher for using carbon tetra-chloride comprising, incombination. a solution tank,- an air compression tank', avalve-controlled passage between said tanks and a relief valve for thesolution tank operatively connected with the control valve and soconstructed that opening and closing the passage valve closes and opens,respectively, the relief valve.

5. A fire extinguisher for using carbon tetra-chloride comprising, incombination, a solution tank, a valve-controlled discharge therefor, anair compression tank, means providing a passage between said tanks,

lmeans for controlling air in said passage. and

means operativel connected with said air control means whereby closingsaid means for controlling air automatically establishes latmosphericpressure in the solution tank.

6. A fire-extinguisher for using carbon `tetra-chloride comprising, incombination, a

solution tank normally under atmospheric ressure, a valve-controlleddischarge thereor, an an" compression tank, means providinga 'passagebetween said tanks, means for l controlling pressure in said passage,and means on said solution tank operatively connected with said meansfor controlling pressure whereby closing of said pressure controllingmeans automatically re-establishes atmospheric pressure in the solutiontank.

JOHN R. BOYI).

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